Faculty Sponsor(s)
Brenda DeVore Marshall
Location
Jereld R. Nicholson Library: Grand Avenue
Subject Area
Communication Arts/Rhetoric
Description
This poster examines the narrative context of a video game and its connection to specific themes and events occurring in society. The artifact analyzed in the project was the 2017 Role-playing Game, otherwise known as an RPG, called Persona 5. Using narrative criticism as a methodological lens, the project investigated the various settings, characters, music lyrics, presentation of dialogue, and interactions of the player/audiences to determine whether or not video games carry social messages and teach about important life lessons. The research determined that the game conveys social justice messages in general and suggests that players speak up about powerful, corrupt figures in society. Persona 5 communicates these messages through its eye-catching video mechanics and its intriguing narrative, which features multiple antagonists creating societal problems. This type of video game has the potential to become an important tool to help players understand important issues that are happening in society.
The paper upon which this poster is based was created for Linfield’s Senior Seminar in Communication Arts.
Recommended Citation
Martinez, Cassandra, "Becoming a Hero: Persona 5’s Video Game Narrative and Its Connection to Social Justice and the Defeat of Corruption" (2018). Linfield University Student Symposium: A Celebration of Scholarship and Creative Achievement. Event. Submission 46.
https://digitalcommons.linfield.edu/symposium/2018/all/46
Becoming a Hero: Persona 5’s Video Game Narrative and Its Connection to Social Justice and the Defeat of Corruption
Jereld R. Nicholson Library: Grand Avenue
This poster examines the narrative context of a video game and its connection to specific themes and events occurring in society. The artifact analyzed in the project was the 2017 Role-playing Game, otherwise known as an RPG, called Persona 5. Using narrative criticism as a methodological lens, the project investigated the various settings, characters, music lyrics, presentation of dialogue, and interactions of the player/audiences to determine whether or not video games carry social messages and teach about important life lessons. The research determined that the game conveys social justice messages in general and suggests that players speak up about powerful, corrupt figures in society. Persona 5 communicates these messages through its eye-catching video mechanics and its intriguing narrative, which features multiple antagonists creating societal problems. This type of video game has the potential to become an important tool to help players understand important issues that are happening in society.
The paper upon which this poster is based was created for Linfield’s Senior Seminar in Communication Arts.
